Refusing Statins

Treatment and medication
1

Though I suffer from many complications from liver disease, including diabetes2 (insulin) , my cholesterol is 5.6, with 4.0 and under being the preferred target, by doctors, in diabetics. Few years ago I was prescribed 20mg simvastatin, as the doctor said to me "they are the best thing since sliced bread" !  As I was frightened of the effect of this variety (heard horror stories) I asked for pravastitin instead, I was one them a week, when due to stomach pain etc,  I stopped, never was concerned by what my doctor advised...I'd had enough of feeling bad. Nobody has the right to pressurise/frighten you into taking ant drug, ultimately the choice is yours. Medics make mistakes! 

now that I have diabetes, my diabetic nurse has asked me to try them again, I done this and still got pains and nausea.

she asked my liver specialist at hospital for advice, even he said it would be good to try a smaller dose.  I have great respect for my liver specialist and tried (other day)  new prescription for 10mg simvastatin, on second day, I got the stomach pains back, worse than before and instead of shoulder pains from them I past. I had bad aching all down my right leg, yes, I have stopped them again already.

I to, like others here, have spent days and hours studying all the evidence on statins, which amounts to real bad news, am now terrified of what long term, let alone short term damage they are capable of! I can't fathom why our doctors keep pushing these dangerous drugs on us, as I cannot believe they could PREVENT heart trouble. As one of the posts here says...your going to die one way or another, so why risk getting there sooner and in pain or great

discomfort.  

Not enough medical research has gone into the effects, benefit or otherwise of statins.  I feel sure doctors, especially for diabetics, create alarm for patients in for what is normal, good cholesterol, even with slightly raised readings, each patient's reading cannot be the standard ideal, with so many different factors, ie other medication one has to take that maybe conflicts, we cannot modify as in diet, so there answer seems to be force the numbers down by these badly researched drugs.

because the nature of my particular situation, I doubt this post will be of any help, but it is another's view of this over prescribed disaster.

marob.

 

2

Well said marob

i am amazed that a doctor prescribed any form of statin as you have liver disease and that's the one side effect even the statin producing pharma companies acknowledge.

your totally correct re cholesterol levels not being a sign of heart disease or risk.

the only level we should be concerned about is our triglyceride, if high this can be a sign of health problems but can easlily prevented and lowered by diet.

HDL and LDL levels are a useless tool and should not be taken seriously.

Can I suggest the next time you have a cholesterol check that you ask for break down of numbers? And just look at your Triglceride level.

take care

sonya

3

I suspect some doctors prescribe 'precautionary' statins in order to avoid criticism for not following the trend. It is the current perceived wisdom within the medical world that statins are good for you, so they won't get fired for prescribing them. However, we've all see the 'current perceived wisdom' change on many other things, and I feel the rush in to the statination of all over 50's is premature and much more research and experience is needed before such a big decision should be made. At the momnent, a big decision is being taken by default because a hguge number of little decisions are being taken on the assumption that someone else knows best.   

4

Thanks Sonya,

yes, why indeed would a clever liver specialist who is well known for his work, lectures and appears on television, have the opinion to recommend a patient with chronic liver damage, even low dose statin.

i'm seeing diabetic nurse next week, so will ask re Triglceride (which i'v not been aware of). this will be interesting. Thanks for the info.

kind regards

marob

 

5

Well, what you say is a different view and one that seems to be based on the closed shop attitude of the medical profession. I must say, this has crossed my mind. Surely in good practice, each person's needs, if they are relatively well or not should be taken into consideration...rather than this over 50's rule (one size fits all).

thank you for pointing this out to us all here. Let's hope a change in practice happens soon.

in the meanwhile I will listen to what my body tells me.

with Regards